


Life Goes on for Those Left Behind

by jacquelee



Series: Star Trek Waverider [7]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Gen, They're not actually dead, but I tagged just to be on the safe side, the major character death is assumed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29593590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: After two years, Starfleet is declaring the Waverider officially lost. Before the memorial service, Kara and Laurel talk.Star Trek Voyager AU.
Relationships: Kara Danvers & Laurel Lance
Series: Star Trek Waverider [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1887892
Collections: Ladies Bingo 2020





	Life Goes on for Those Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [ladiesbingo](http://ladiesbingo.dreamwidth.org) for the prompt Funerals and wakes.

Laurel knew from the moment Jeremiah opened the door for her that he had been vague on purpose in his message and that this was not just a small argument between mother and daughter. The atmosphere was incredibly tense and the agitated voices just below shouting could be heard from the doorway. She sighed. This was never going to be easy but she hadn't expected it to already be difficult before they even got to the memorial. 

After nodding and smiling a little at Jeremiah, Laurel went into the living room and when they noticed her entering, the argument stopped abruptly. Eliza stepped forward in her direction, while Kara turned around and stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door closed. 

Eliza raised her arms in a helpless gesture.

"I don't know what's gotten into her. Yesterday she was all ready to go but now she suddenly says she doesn't want to and that we're just accepting that Alex is dead and giving up on her. I don't know what to do."

Laurel's heart sank. She had been striking up a friendship with Kara these last two years, bonding over having both lost their sisters when the Waverider had gone missing. They had taken to each other fast, Laurel's more serious personality balanced out perfectly by Kara's bubbly and optimistic nature. They had helped each other through the grieving process and their respective family's reactions to what had happened. 

Like Laurel's parents getting divorced and Quentin turning to alcohol. Like both of Kara's parents burying themselves in their work, not realizing how much their daughter was struggling. There had been times when Laurel had beamed over to National City in the middle of the night because Kara had needed someone to be there for her, to hold her. And times when Kara had been the only one who was able to stop Laurel from falling down the same slippery slope her father had gone down. 

They barely had made some progress, Kara getting her dream job and Laurel feeling more stable where she was, enjoying the work as ADA in Star City, when Starfleet had announced that they were declaring the Waverider and its crew officially lost in a memorial service at the end of the year. 

At first, Kara had seemed to get the legal necessities behind it, but Laurel understood the emotional toll it was taking to actually have the service, the prospect of hearing about everyone as if they were really gone, as if Starfleet had given up on them. She knew that that wasn't the case, and she knew Kara knew too, but as a lawyer, it was easier for her to understand why it wasn't feasible to go on with them merely being seen as missing instead of officially dead.

As much as the thought pained her, she knew it was important for many different reasons, reasons that she had explained to Kara before, though apparently she hadn't done as good a job as she thought. 

"I'll talk to her."

Eliza and Jeremiah shared a look. Then Eliza nodded and sighed.

"Thank you. We'll go ahead to the ceremony and you'll just get there on your own time, okay?"

Laurel smiled at her and nodded, waiting until they were gone, then stepped towards the bedroom and knocked. Only some muffled, unintelligible sounds answered.

"Kara, it's me. Your parents went ahead, we're alone. Can I come in?"

A vaguely affirmative sound could be heard behind the door and Laurel took that as invitation, so she opened the door and stepped in. She saw Kara sitting on the bed, the formal suit she had on getting crinkled a little, eyes red and generally looking like a lost puppy. Laurel's heart broke for her.

"I'm sorry."

It was barely audible and it made Laurel want to cry too. She sat down on the bed next to Kara, putting her hand in between them, which Kara promptly took and squeezed tightly. 

"You have nothing to be sorry about. It's okay to be sad. It's okay to be angry. And if you changed your mind and don't want to go, that's fine too, you don't have to. We'll just go get some potstickers and ice cream and talk about happy memories of our sisters being the most annoying ever." 

Kara laughed but it came out wet and suddenly, she was in Laurel's arms, sobbing. Hugging her tightly, Laurel rubbed her back soothingly and quietly told her that it would all be okay, even when she herself was now crying, the reality of the situation getting to her too. 

Eventually, Kara leaned back a little, finding a pack of tissues on the nightstand and blowing her nose before rubbing her face with her hand. 

"I'm sorry. I don't know why… I just feel like, I don't know. I don't want this to be real. I don't want to go to a big event where everyone talks about Alex like she's this hero, this larger than life person, and they don't even know her, they don't know how she talks, how she smiles and I just feel like I'm still waiting for her to just come walking through the door but if they do this, if we say she's gone then she's really gone and I can't… I'm not giving up on her. I'm not."

The tears were falling again and Laurel squeezed Kara's hand tightly.

"No one is giving up. You know that. Starfleet is still looking for them, a lot of people are still looking for them. And they will come back. I believe with my whole heart that they will. One day, Alex will walk through that door. But until then, don't you think she would want you to be able to live here in this apartment without always having to explain that it isn't actually yours? Without having to break your own heart every time you need something repaired because officially it doesn't belong to you? You know she wouldn't want that for you. 

"And when she comes back," Laurel emphasized the 'when', "then they will just reverse it, everything will go back to how it was, it's easy enough. Until then, we need to live our lives without them as well as we can, without only living in the past. Because if we don't and they do come back, I'm pretty sure they're gonna kick our butts for not even trying."

Kara laughed at that, though it still came out quite wet. 

"Yes, they would." She smiled at Laurel, her eyes still full of tears, but clearly calmer now. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "I think I'm ready now." She squeezed Laurel's hand, who smiled at her encouragingly. "But I want potstickers and ice cream afterwards. Lots of it."

Laurel laughed.

"You got it."


End file.
